Prejudged: The Stigma of Eviction Court Records

Tens of thousands of families and individuals face eviction in Illinois each year. The vast majority live in Cook County, which has more rental units than the other 101 Illinois counties combined. This report presents data from 105,272 completed residential eviction cases in Cook County from 2014 to 2017 along with local perspectives from tenants, legal aid attorneys, and a landlord on the issue of eviction.

Our analysis revealed that tenants face several barriers when fighting eviction cases in Cook County. While 81% of landlords appeared with legal counsel, an overwhelming majority (88%) of tenants were self-represented. Tenants were often unfamiliar with what defenses and resources are available to them, or that not attending court could result in a default judgment against them. Although 33% of completed eviction cases resulted in a final judgment on the first court date, many tenants did not realize that their very first appearance in eviction court could decide the fate of their housing and leave them with a lasting eviction record.

Out of these 105,272 cases, the majority (61%) ended with a ruling in favor of the landlord. In the remaining 39% of completed cases, the eviction filing did not result in an eviction order and/or other judgment against the tenant. Available court data provided little or no information about what happened in these cases; the landlord may have decided not to pursue the case because the tenant moved or both parties may have resolved the issue. We estimate 15,091 people each year ended up or will end up with a public eviction record despite having no eviction order or other judgment against them, an experience that can have lasting consequences for a tenant.

According to the experiences of legal aid attorneys, a landlord, and tenants from Cook County, many landlords will refuse to rent to someone if they see an eviction filing on their record, regardless of a case’s context or outcome. Incomplete or unclear court records—whether accessed directly online or through a tenant screening company—only make this problem worse. Especially in a digital age where personal information is easily accessed and aggregated as soon as a court case is filed, eviction court filings should not automatically damage an individual’s rental prospects.

Since the impact of an eviction record is so detrimental to someone’s ability to secure housing, we propose that eviction cases should only become available to the public after the case results in an eviction order or other judicial finding against the tenant. We recommend that Illinois enact a law that seals eviction case records at the point of filing. Such a law would protect tenants whose cases could eventually be sealed from ever having the case appear in the public record and potentially create barriers to accessing housing. Additional policy recommendations focus on ensuring the court process works equally well for both landlords and tenants.

Special Reports

Three reports were released in tandem with the launch of the Chicago Evictions data portal: 1) Chicago’s Eviction Crisis, 2) Most Families Forced Out for Less than $2,500 Back Rent, and 3) Legal Aid Attorneys Make the Difference.

Tens of thousands of families and individuals face eviction in Illinois each year. The vast majority live in Cook County, which has more rental units than the other 101 Illinois counties combined. This report presents data from 105,272 completed residential eviction cases in Cook County from 2014 to 2017 along with local perspectives from tenants, legal aid attorneys, and a landlord on the issue of eviction.

On an average day in Chicago last year, seven reported crimes took place in vacant properties. This constitutes a 48% increase in the number of crimes reported in Chicago’s vacant buildings between 2005-2012. After foreclosure banks and lenders often empty rental buildings of law-abiding, rent-paying families, resulting in scores of new vacant buildings. As a result, there has been an astronomical increase in the number of vacant properties in Chicago at the same time that crime in vacant buildings has been on the rise.

The goal of the Illinois Renters Survey was to understand the experience of renters in Illinois in order to determine how best to improve the landlord-tenant relationship and, ultimately, the quality of life for Illinois renters.

Three-hundred and ninety-six Illinois residents from across the state responded to the survey. The typical respondent lived in an unsubsidized property that was not owner-occupied. They had a family size between two and three and made $10,000 per year or less. Over 80% of tenants paid their landlord a security deposit for their rental unit.

Residential landlords and tenants participate in contractual relationships in which the landlord provides habitable housing and tenants pay their rent on time. Although the success of these relationships is essential to the health of the community, tens of thousands end up in court each year. In 2002, 35,799 cases were filed in Chicago’s forcible entry and detainer courts, most being landlord and tenant disputes over nonpayment of rent. Eviction courts exist to protect tenants from wrongful evictions and potentially violent confrontations with their landlord.

For over 20 years, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, Inc. (LCBH) has been the premier public interest law firm specializing in housing law and policy in Chicago. LCBH’s mission is to increase the availability of safe, decent, and affordable housing for people of low and moderate income in the City of Chicago through legal and public advocacy and community education.

Annual Foreclosure Reports

Since 2009, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing (LCBH) has chronicled the foreclosure crisis in Chicago and alerted tenant advocates and legislators to illegal evictions, rampant vacant property accumulation, and the overall loss of affordable housing due to foreclosure through the agency’s annual reports.

The 2012 report examines the impact of foreclosure on the Chicago rental market and renter households using LCBH’s most recent data and the results of renter surveys, and makes recommendations for renter advocacy in light of the new protections in Chicago. Conclusions drawn in this report are informed by data analysis, recent research, and direct testimonials from Chicago renters impacted by foreclosure.

Throughout the past three years Apartment Building foreclosure filing rates remain persistently high. LCBH found that from 2009 to 2011, more than 50,000 rental units went into foreclosure in Chicago, which comprises nine percent of Chicago’s entire rental housing stock. LCBH also found that more units in Apartment Buildings are impacted by foreclosure filings than were single-family and condominium units in Chicago, indicating that a greater number of renter households are likely affected than owner households.

LCBH’s Tenants in Foreclosure Intervention Project released its 2010 Report entitled "Banks Avoid Foreclosure Laws, Uproot Renters: A Call for Enforcement of Tenant Protections." This is the second annual report of the project and outlines the Community Areas at risk of destabilization due to the number and percentage of rental units either in foreclosure, or bank- or investor-owned. The report also examines the widespread violations of tenants’ rights that have come to LCBH’s attention through direct work with Chicago tenants.

The foreclosure crisis has received close attention; however, there is insufficient examination of how this crisis has negatively affected tenants who rent units from landlords facing foreclosure. Particularly in urban areas with large rental populations, the impact of foreclosure on tenants has the potential to destabilize entire communities. Tenants are the invisible victims of foreclosure—they are often uninformed of their buildings’ foreclosures, frequently face severe violations of their rights, and consequently lose their housing stability.

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About LCBH

LCBH provides free, comprehensive legal representation so that renters have a trusted advocate in court. Combined with education, outreach, supportive services and policy initiatives, our programs holistically address both the short-term housing crisis and underlying causes, so that more families can move from a path leading to homelessness to one of safe and stable housing.